Frogz

 

Yes Frogz.

Lot’s of them hoppers. I was actually asked to pet a few. Slimy. But I love them.

But let’s finish up the Keystone State first. I will be visiting more of them this fall but I stopped by three more PA SP’s in the past week.

Last Thursday I headed north along rainy roads to Locust Lake.

There are 282 sites here but only the electric loop was open. I nabbed site 33.

I quickly walked the open loop because it was going to fill up quickly for the weekend. Even though rain was expected to continue. Which it did.

Number 62 had a nice lake view.

And then I spent the evening watching the water pour off my tarp as a river formed a path through my campsite.

Nifty.

Friday I explored the rest of the park. There’s a beach and a store.

Which opened the day after I left but probably was not too busy that weekend.

Near the store is the best site here. Number 274, although several others near it are the lakeshore as well.

Life is all about irony and that was made plain to me as I left Locust Lake last Saturday.

The campground had filled up.

The rain had given way to the sun.

Yeah.

Which was fitting as I was leaving and heading many miles north to Hickory Run State Park. Where I enjoyed one day of beautiful sunshine.

One of the cool features of this huge 381 site campground is the boulder field. It’s about three miles away up a mainly dirt road.

I thought they were dropped by glaciers but that was not the case.

Water freezing and thawing.

Like a giant cat litter box. But without the smell. Or the poop.

The photo above was shot raw and processed through an HDR program.

Don’t forget to play with your aperture.

This is f/3.5

Pick a rock, any rock.

Make it stand out and blur the background.

Something different.

I stayed in site 72. A very large site and one of my favorites.

When I arrived and was looking for a site I saw a black bear leaping up from this site and scurrying away. That’s why I picked it. Hoping the little guy would come back and pose for some pictures. He had other plans and never returned. Darn.

This is the most popular mountain campground in the state of PA.

A huge beach and several lakes and ponds bring campers from nearby NYC and Philly, less than three hours away.

The sites range from shaded, like numbers 186 and 269, to open grass ones, such as number 341.

There is a huge grassy field in that area. Perfect for tossing a Frisbee around or a small cat. Or a gerbil for that matter. But I do not condone that.

Interesting roads lead to interesting trails.

I passed on that one. Didn’t feel quite right.

Tuesday was Tobyhanna.

A small state park with only 140 sites.

I parked in number 119, the best site in the park.

I have outrun spring and the trees are naked again. This could be an ongoing theme since I will be in Maine in a few weeks. I think there is still snow there…

Some sites had some foliage. I liked 3 and 56.

But the best are are by the lake and if you cannot get 119, 117 is a good choice.

It was just myself and one other camper here for my brief stay. And a few flies. Small nasty ones. I had to take precautions while making dinner.

I took some pics of the lake and river as I left on Thursday morning.

It is a gorgeous spot and I would love to come back in the summer. Just to borrow a canoe and paddle some of that water. It’s that good.

But I continued on to New York state on Thursday. But not before taking a last PA pic.

See, SIL Tracy and Nephew Riley enjoy the TV show “The Office”. It was set in Scranton, PA. Not really, but you know what I mean.. I looked for a sign as I was travelling nearby on a stormy Thursday.

I think it says Scranton.

Not sure because of the rain. It’s the best I could do.

I am camping now at another TT place to use a basecamp to visit the Catskills next week.

Friday morning cleared up enough for me to make some breakfast tacos.

As well as cook some boneless pork chops for later feasts.

Sear and then slow cook.

Stop drooling. Slow cook means covering it up on low heat. A smaller pan on top lets the juices drip back down.

Yummy.

While I was doing all that cooking the Frog Police showed up.

This is not a good place to be if you are a frog.

Unless you like to be yanked out of your pond and held.

Reminds me of when I was a kid. Chasing frogs and snakes all over British Columbia. That is what being a kid is all about. Skinned knees and tree forts. Broken arms and legs were a right of passage. Remember all the friends who would sign their name on your cast? You would hope that a certain someone would sign something just a little special. To prove your crush was not unfounded. Right?

Regards,

Greg